The Role of Cooperatives in the Development of the Movement Culture of Populism

Abstract

Lawrence Goodwyn's Democratic Promise and The Populist Moment have been popular and influential works among American historians.' Reviewers have been favorable to Goodwyn's imaginative interpretation and comprehensive coverage of the American farmers greatest political protest movement, and several recent texts have either adopted Goodwyn's interpretation or listed it as the new standard history of Populism.2 After two decades of scholarly reactions to Richard Hofstadter's charges of anti-Semitism and paranoia, it is useful to have an interpretation that focuses on a broader view of Populism and contains important insights into the nature of radical movements in general. Goodwyn's interpretation is a strong statement that will provide topics for revisionist studies for years to come. This is one of the first. Both Democratic Promise and its somewhat more explicit paperback version, Populist Moment, offer a new interpretation of Populism that pictures